


Of Journals and Withering Flesh

by MiriRainbowitz



Series: Pinto fics [4]
Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Prompt Fic, for a day but still
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-27
Updated: 2014-08-27
Packaged: 2018-02-14 23:36:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2207301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiriRainbowitz/pseuds/MiriRainbowitz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>WintryMix prompted #7 for an au fic writing post, which is "fake relationship au". So, sorta fake relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Journals and Withering Flesh

“Hello?” Zach says quietly.

“Help me,” Chris says, sounding somewhat desperate. “Suzy was sitting next to me and I had to escape to the bathroom.”

Zach grimaces in sympathy. Suzy Cohen has had a painfully obvious crush on Chris, and if the amount of time Chris spends complaining about her is any indication, she’s getting bolder and spending more time with him.

“Were you able to get your lunch?” asks Zach.

“No,” replies Chris. “It’s still in the cafeteria and she’s probably expecting me back soon.”

“I think you’ll just have to grin and bear it,” says Zach. 

“Yeah, I know, I just…” Chris trails off. “I- she’s just getting so…annoying with her _constantly_ mentioning the winter formal and the fact that she’s single and just- ugh.”

“Maybe if you told her you had a date she might back off,” says Zach. 

“Yeah, I think I’ll do that,” replies Chris. “Okay, I’m going back now. Talk to you later.”

“Bye,” says Zach as he hangs up.

 

Zach gets a text from Chris right after lunch is over. Zach, we might have a bit of a problem.

**What happened?**

I took your advice about saying I had a date for the Winter Formal already.

**How’s that a problem?**

I told her you were my date.

Zach’s body stills at that last message, while his heart decides to speed up. He eventually asks back, **Why did you say that?**

I panicked. She asked who my date was and you were the first person who came to mind.

**And you didn’t think to ask me first? What if I say no?**

I’m sorry, I just panicked. And you won’t, you know you love me too much to do that.

That last part certainly was true, Zach thought. He didn’t send that though, instead typing, **Well, since you asked so nicely, then yes, I’ll go to the Winter Formal with you.**

Thank you, Zach :).

**No problem. We should probably work out the details after school, yeah?**

Yeah. My house? My mom is making chicken tonight.

**Sure, I’ll let my mom know.**

 

Zach was pretty sure the news that he and Chris were going to the Winter Formal together would be halfway through the school by the time classes were over, so as soon as the final bell rang, he was out the door as quickly as possible. He went over to skulk behind the bushes next to the entrance nearest Chris’s locker, and when Chris walked out, he slipped out from behind them and approached Chris.

“Let’s go,” he said, glancing around and seeing a lot of students looking at them. “Quickly.”

They hurried off, not slowing down until they were half a mile away from the school. At that point, they slowed down and walked silently for a few minutes.

“Okay, logistics,” said Zach, breaking the silence. “Do you think that we should say we’re dating?”

“It’d make sense,” replied Chris. “New relationship, didn’t want to tell anyone?”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” answered Zach. “Do you think we should tell the truth to anyone?”

“Nah,” replied Chris. “Let’s keep it convincing. Besides, it’ll be good practice for you, Mr. Broadway performer,” he said with a smirk.

“Yes, it will be,” Zach retorted. “And what are _you_ getting out of it, huh?”

“Not going to the formal with Suzy Cohen,” replied Chris immediately. 

“True,” said Zach. They walked some more in silence, until they were almost at Chris’s house. 

“Hey, should we kiss?” asked Chris. Zach’s heart leaped and he swallowed nervously. 

“S-sure,” he stuttered. “But let’s try that in private first?”

“Yeah,” replied Chris. “And hey, no one’s home.”

It was true, the driveway to Chris’s house was empty. “So do you want to practice? Or…”

Zach paused, considering. “Practice, and then homework,” he eventually said. “I have to read _Wuthering Heights_ for English.”

“You are making me so glad that I’m in advanced English right now,” Chris said with a grin. “We’re reading _A Tale of Two Cities_.” He paused, then asked, “How is it so far anyway?”

“I’m beginning to see why Joe called it ‘withering flesh’,” Zach replied. “It’s- what’s a good synonym for horrible?”

“Disgusting? Awful? Appalling?” said Chris.

“Appalling, yeah,” replied Zach. They walked up to the front door and Chris pulled his key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. They quickly went up to Chris’s room and Zach flopped face-first onto the bed and kicked off his shoes while Chris dumped his backpack onto the floor and sat down at the head of his bed.

“Get up, Zach,” said Chris when Zach didn’t move. “We can’t practice with your face lying on the covers.”

When Zach still didn’t move, Chris started poking his back. “C’mon, Zach,” he sort-of whined. 

Zach sighed and pushed himself up into a kneeling position next to Chris. 

It was hard to tell who moved first, but suddenly Chris’s lips were on Zach’s, and Zach felt a jolt throughout his entire body. When Chris pulled away, Zach almost moved after him, feeling as though some physical force was dragging his body towards Chris.

“So…good?” asked Chris in a slightly breathy voice, and wow, Zach should probably kiss him more often if it meant hearing that tone of voice again, so he leaned in again and kissed Chris again.

“What do you think?” Zach asked when he pulled away. 

“I think…I should probably get started on my homework now, otherwise I won’t do it all afternoon,” replied Chris, and Zach did an internal victory dance.

“Yeah, me too,” said Zach, and he turned away to pull his Math binder and _Wuthering Heights_ out of his backpack. 

They spent the next few hours doing homework, but Zach couldn’t concentrate completely, his mind still running over the kisses. He wasn’t surprised by how good he thought they felt- he knew he was gay and in love with Chris, but as far as he knew, Chris was straight, and probably shouldn’t have been as affected by the kisses as he was.

After spending half an hour not reading a page in _Wuthering Heights_ , Zach turned to look at Chris, who was immersed in his Biology notes, going over a printout in highlighter.

“Hey, Chris?” he asked. 

Chris looked up. “Yeah?” he said.

“You, um- I thought you were straight,” Zach blurted out. 

“Um, more like, uh, bisexual, really,” Chris replied. “I mean, I’m attracted to more girls than boys, but the two crushes I’ve- _had_ , have both been on boys. So…sorta bisexual.”

“Oh, I just thought- you could have told me,” said Zach.

“Honestly, I’m still working on- defining my orientation,” replied Chris. “I just didn’t really want to tell anyone till I’d worked it out. I wasn’t trying to hide it from you or anyone, I just-“

“I get it,” Zach interrupted. “I didn’t tell you till I was sure, either.”

“So yeah, that’s- that,” said Chris. “Anyway, I think my parents are going to be home soon. Do you want to tell them about, um, us?”

“Sure,” said Zach, his calm tone belying the nervous churning in his gut. “More practice for me, right?”

“Yes, more practice for _Broadway_ ,” replied Chris. “Let’s tell them that we’re going to the Winter Formal together and we’re- working on dating each other.”

“Sounds good,” said Zach. 

 

During dinner, Chris told his parents that he and Zach were going to the Winter Formal together, and that they were trying a relationship. His parents, unsurprisingly, took it pretty well. The Pine family had known the Quinto family for years, and they’d been some of the first people that Zach had come out to.

_Well, that’s one obstacle down_ , thought Zach as his Mom drove him home after dinner. _I guess I’ll just have to tell her now_.

When they got home, Zach said, “Mom, uh…Chris and I are- going to the Winter Formal together.”

His mom looked at him for a few seconds, then nodded. “Okay,” she said. 

“And, um, we’re- dating? Sort of,” Zach continued. 

His mom looked slightly puzzled. “I thought he was straight,” she said. 

“Apparently not,” Zach replied. “Anyway, I’m tired and I’ve finished my homework, so I’m gonna go to sleep now.”

“Good night,” she answered. Zach went upstairs to his room and started getting ready for bed. Once he was finished, he turned off the light and climbed into bed, then pulled out his phone and texted Chris, **I think my mom believes it.**

Good, my parents bought it hook, line, and sinker. Chris texted back a few minutes later.

**That’s good. And goodnight x**

When Chris didn’t text back, Zach sent another message. **The “x” is okay, right?**

Yeah, sorry I was in the bathroom. Goodnight to you too x

Zach put his phone away and snuggled into his bed. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

 

The next day in school, word had apparently gotten around that Zach and Chris were going to the Winter Formal together. Zach had been approached by a lot of people that day asking if he really was going with Chris, and as the day progressed, his responses went from saying yes with a smile to growling the word out. 

**Do you think I should put a sign on my forehead saying “I’m going to the Winter Formal with Chris so would you please stop asking me about it”?**

I might just do that too, this is getting ridiculous, Chris texted back.

Somehow, Zach made it through the rest of the day without murdering someone, although that might have had to do with the glare he turned on anyone who approached him. He decided to get the hell out of school as soon as possible that day, and when his last class was over, he went looking for Chris.

Chris was just closing his locker when Zach found him. “Let’s go, or I will actually kill the next person who asks me about us.”

A warm feeling went through Zach at Chris’s casual “us”, but he didn’t let it show on his face. “Tell me about it,” he replied. “I think people only stopped asking me because I glared at them.”

“Lucky,” Chris grumbled. “But actually, while we’re on that subject, I think we should actually figure out what we’re going to do for the Formal.”

“Let’s talk about that at your house,” Zach replied. 

As they started to walk home, Zach was almost going to start complaining more about _Wuthering Heights_ , but the feeling of Chris’s hand intertwining with his own shut him up. The whole walk home was silent, but the warm feeling that had appeared at the word “us” magnified, filling Zach with happiness.

When they got to Chris’s house, they did homework for an hour and a half, until Chris got a call from his mom to start making dinner. When he left the room, Zach tried to concentrate on his homework for a few more minutes, but his back was starting to ache from lying on the floor for a long time.

With a sigh, he rolled onto his side so that he was looking at the blankets that fell to the floor from Chris’s bed, and lay there for a few minutes. At some point, he reached out and lifted up the blankets and saw a little leather notebook. Curious, he grabbed it and opened it.

Chris’s familiar handwriting covered the first page, and Zach smiled slightly. It seemed as though Chris kept a journal. How cute.

Zach flipped through the journal, but it wasn’t completely filled, so Zach went back to the last page and decided to start reading. 

The entry had yesterday’s date, which piqued Zach’s curiosity.

"I am such an idiot," the entry started out.

"I am such an idiot, because today I accidentally got Zach to be my date for the Winter Formal. This is just going to end in disaster, because he has no idea about my feelings for him."

_Feelings for me?_ Zach thought. 

"I will probably do or say something stupid, and he’ll know, and then everything will get awkward because he probably doesn’t return my feelings, and the excuse I came up with today about why I named him as my date was only partially true."

"Because yes, I did panic when Suzy asked me who my date was, but Zach’s name was the first name that came to mind because he’s the only person I want to take to this dance."

Zach could hardly comprehend the whole entry. He knew he was gaping at the journal, but he couldn’t help it. Chris had feelings for him? Chris actually wanted to go to the Winter Formal with Zach? 

Zach was startled out of his stupor by the sound of Chris coming upstairs. He quickly shoved the journal back under the bed and rolled back onto his stomach, trying to look like he was immersed in his homework.

“Zach, you know that looking studious won’t fool me,” said Chris. “Have you done any homework while I was prepping dinner?”

“No, my back hurt,” replied Zach. “Actually, I think I’m going to go home now. I have to work on my essay for APUSH.”

“Oh,” said Chris, looking slightly sad. “Well, have fun with that.”

Zach nodded, then started gathering up his stuff. A minute later, he stepped outside the house and started walking back to his house.

The rest of the evening, Zach’s thoughts were still centered on what he’d read in the journal. He knew that he probably shouldn’t mention it to Chris, but it seemed that Chris really thought that Zach was uninterested in him. Couldn’t he see how stupid that idea was? Zach had been struggling with his own feelings for Chris for months now. If anyone shouldn’t be interested in the other, Chris shouldn’t be interested in Zach.

When Zach was getting ready to go to sleep, his text alert chimed. Zach picked up his phone and saw a text from Chris, which said, I just realized that we didn’t talk about plans for the dance.

**Oops. Tomorrow at lunch? Somewhere *private*.** Zach texted back.

Sure, I’ll see you then.

Zach closed his phone. Tomorrow, he and Chris would definitely talk about plans- but only after they talked about the journal.

 

The next day, Zach felt nervous, and the feeling only kept growing as the day went on. However, he didn’t let it show, instead starting off the school day by glaring at anyone who looked like they were going to ask him questions.

By lunchtime, Zach felt like he was going to start hyperventilating, but when he went to the triangle across the street from the school and saw Chris there, a sense of calmness washed over him. 

“So,” said Zach as he approached Chris. “I know we were going to talk about plans, but I want to talk about something else first.”

“Shoot,” mumbled Chris as he dug into his sandwich. 

“Yesterday,” Zach started. “When you went downstairs, I found a journal under your bed.”

Chris was staring at Zach, his expression growing somewhat nervous. Zach took a deep breath. “I read the last entry in it.”

Chris’s expression had morphed into panic and a little bit of resignation, but he said, “Look, I can explain-”

“The only thing you need to explain is why you thought I wouldn’t be interested in you,” Zach said. 

“Well- I just- I don’t know,” replied Chris. “I just thought that- I mean, just because you’re gay doesn’t mean you’re interested in me, and you never seemed- interested.”

“That’s because I didn’t want to freak you out with my inappropriate feelings,” said Zach. 

Chris looked like he was about to protest, but Zach leaned over and kissed him again, and wow, just as good as the first time. When Zach pulled away, he smiled and said, “And yes, Chris, I will _gladly_ go to the Winter Formal with you.”


End file.
